Michael Stern, Lynne Rosetto Kasper and Rick Nelson Discuss Ethics of Restaurant Reviewing

The Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law at the School of Journalism and Mass Communcation at the University of Minnesota hosted the 27th annual Silha Lecture on October 25, 2012, "A Question of Taste: The Ethics and Craft of Restaurant Reviewing."
 
I think a great time was had by all!  Lynne Rossetto Kasper moderated; Michael and Rick (restaurant critic at the Minneapolis Star Tribune) contributed to the fun with their humorous and thoughtful observations.  They were a joy to host!  We had an overflow crowd of about 350 people in the auditorium and in the atrium adjacent, with the discussion followed by a book-signing.
 
Rather than try to tell you all about it, here's a link to a video of the lecture, and also a slide show.  The guy behind the umbrella is Rick, who was trying to keep his identity secret. (And I'm the woman at the podium in the blue dress.)  
 
http://www.silha.umn.edu/events/
 
 

Thanks for posting this rumaki.  I am watching right now.
 
And thanks to Michael Stern for the mention!

Just finished up and it was very, very enjoyable!  It is well worth the time to watch. 

Fantastic. Thank you for putting it up.

AWESOME!
I clapped when Michael Stern mentioned buffetbuster!  It's like knowing a celebrity!!!

Michael Stern is obviously a celebrity but to our Roadfood friends, BB is better known.  I have dined with Michael and he is a hoot, a  very entertaining man, well traveled and fun to be with but NOBODY BUT NOBODY can stay with BB when it come to consumption and choice spots.  WJ and TM come close.  I am not in the top 1000
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

lleechef


AWESOME!
I clapped when Michael Stern mentioned buffetbuster!  It's like knowing a celebrity!!!

But Lisa, you are MARRIED to a celebrity! 

Paul-
While the kind words are greatly appreciated, they are also quite an exaggeration.  

buffetbuster

lleechef


AWESOME!
I clapped when Michael Stern mentioned buffetbuster!  It's like knowing a celebrity!!!
 

But Lisa, you are MARRIED to a celebrity! 

 
I've tried to explain that to her.

Thanks for putting this clip up  Rumaki. it was a pleasure to watch and a thrill to hear my friend Buffetbuster mentioned by Michael Stern.

I flew in from London, England, to attend this Silha Lecture and yes, it was fantastic!  Hearing Lynne engage the differences between what Michael does in providing national information on road food establishments and what Rick does in reviewing local restaurants, and how they set about what they do, was worth the trip.  And it was lovely to have met with Michael afterward and informally talk hot dogs!  (And in the spirit of ethical disclosure, no, I didn't fly in just for the lecture but also to see Rumaki, with whom I've encountered more fried chicken that you can imagine.)

I finally made time to watch the video of this lecture. "Mystery Guest" certainly brought up a lot of issues that amateurs reviewing restaurants should consider before hitting that "Post" button on their computer.
 
I think another lecture could be devoted solely to the issues raised in this paragraph describing the October lecture:
 
"Or does it even matter? The traditional critic no longer holds a monopoly on restaurant reviews. Thousands of amateurs post their critiques online on blogs, social networks and web sites like Yelp and Urbanspoon, adding new perspectives to the mix. But are these reviewers the ordinary "real people" they claim to be, or do they have an agenda to promote or an ax to grind? Is someone paying them to praise or condemn a restaurant? Do they recognize fundamental media ethics principles like avoiding conflicts of interest, refusing special treatment, or correcting mistakes?"
 
"Mystery Guest" correctly pointed out that you don't know who is writing these online reviews. We have all seen posts plugging restaurants on this forum, only to get blown away if they were obviously written by promoters.
 
But after reading reviews on this site and the ones mentioned in the lecture description, I find that with some practice I think I can tell which reviews are genuine and which are planted. Some of these sites offer an advantage to big city readers: just about every joint gets reviewed, something a newspaper can't do due to lack of space. Amateur reviewers do help provide a list of what Lynne Kasper is looking for - dumps to avoid. There seems to be no end of people who sign up on those other review sites just to vent about the bad meal they just had at some truly dreadful place.
 
The one thing I am still looking for is a muckraking expose into why reviews disappear from certain restaurant web sites. Payola, maybe?